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Willem Whent
Willem Whent is the Justicar of Harrenhal, serving Lord Paramount Rhaegar Bittersteel. He earned both infamy and renown during Durran's Defiance, and has since been known as The Bloody Bat by both friends and foes alike. Appearance Willem might once have been a handsome young knight, but the years have robbed him of his innocence and his good looks. He has a bulky frame, thick set from more than a few scraps in the taverns and brothels he frequents. Upon his face sits either a dour frown or a maddening grin, seeming to alternate between moods with every passing hour. He acquired a deep scar on his face, along with multiple other wounds, when he fought Ser Harlan Arryn during the Betrayal at Harrenhal. History They say it was an oddly stormy night in the Riverlands when Oswin Whent and his wife welcomed their second child. Perhaps it was an ominous sign of what was to come, or simply just freak weather conditions that lasted a very short time. Willem was a healthy baby, much to his parents delight, but quickly grew up to be a troublesome child. He was restless, to the point at which he found it difficult to sleep some nights, and overly impulsive from a young age. The only matter he truly showed interest in was the sword, where he would routinely beat his older brother Oswell and give his kin many a bruise. After his eighth nameday, his father took the boy to Harrenhal. Ser Oswin and Lord Paramount Baelor Bittersteel were good friends and, as Willem was his second son, both men saw the mutual benefits to naming the boy as Baelor's page and parting him from his family. It would be over twenty years before Willem would return to his ancestral home again. At Harrenhal, Willem made minimal effort toward being a good page. He showed promise only on the training yards, but had a vicious temper and oft times struggled to contain himself even when the fights were over. This didn't make him very popular with the other children, which in turn did little to help his clearly troubled psyche. Only one dared to befriend the wild child, the bastard of Harrenhal - Rhaegar Rivers. The pair would become great friends over the next decade, watching each other's backs through thick and thin. The two were an unlikely pair - whilst Rhaegar excelled at most anything he put his mind to, Willem blundered his way through his studies and often eloped to visit the taverns and brothels. Rhaegar was not completely a model youth though, and by their eighteenth birthdays the pair had fathered at least four bastards between them. It was at the Tourney of Tumbleton that Willem met his true love. When Rhaegar proved unstoppable in the lists, and crowned Roslin Osgrey his queen of love and beauty, the lady Elinor Flowers caught the eye of the Whent and with the blessing of her kin - Lord Footly - the pair were wed before the year was out and a baby girl followed shortly afterward. Four years of peace and quiet followed, and it was easily the happiest Willem had ever been in his life. Elinor soothed his usually hair-trigger temper, and with a darling wife that keep away the worst of his demons he saw no reason to frequent the taverns as regularly as he did in his youth. In the months building up to Durran's Defiance, with the realm appearing to teeter on the edge of all out war, Willem returned to Harrenhal at Rhaegar's side. Ill news swiftly followed the pair though, and in the sparse few weeks since their departure from Osgrey lands his wife had been claimed by a terrible wasting sickness. Something inside Willem snapped that day, it had always been frayed but this tragedy pushed his mind over the edge. He locked himself in his quarters for days on end, servants claiming he was always howling with either grief or laughter. Only when the war that he had returned home for began did the crazed Bat descend from his lair. Surprisingly, Willem was always well composed for the war meetings. Though he spoke little, instead choosing to brood on the sidelines whilst heavy black bags hung under his eyes. Wherever Rhaegar went, so too did Willem, and at the Battle of Fairmarket was where they had their first real battle. With warhammer in one hand and shield in the other, Willem brazenly charged forward with Lord Piper's vanguard to meet the traitors head on. Upon those blood soaked fields Willem slew more men than he ever dared count, among them many nobles from across the Riverlands, and by the time the loyalists were forced to retreat his armour was painted crimson with blood. It was as Rhaegar Rivers carried Willem from the battlefield that the phrase The Bloody Bat' was uttered for the first time, that moniker would stick and remain with the Whent knight even after the the war had ended. Willem fought by Rhaegar's side in many more engagements over the course of the rebellion, both steadily gaining resentment for the king they fought for. After the Battle at Harrenhal both men knew that the war was lost, and when Rhaegar proposed his treachery it was Willem that rose first and loudest in agreement with his lifelong friend. In the ensuing melee he dueled with Ser Harlan Arryn for an extended period of time, wounding the ''Falconknight numerous times whilst receiving the same in return. The young Kingsguard proved the better fighter though, when Willem's hammer glanced off his helmet he delivered a deadly riposte that brought the Bloody Bat to his knees. Fortunately, Rhaegar came to his aid and slew the young Arryn before he could deliver the fatal blow. In the aftermath of the betrayal, Willem recovered at Harrenhal whilst Rhaegar saw to the end of hostilities across the Riverlands. When his friend traveled to King's Landing, Willem rode at his side. When they returned, Rhaegar now legitimised and risen to Lord Paramouncy, Willem traveled with him again to Heart's Home to return Lady Forlorn. And when they finally arrived back at Harrenhal, he was appointed as Justicar of Harrenhal by Rhaegar as reward for his many years of loyalty. Nearly a decade later and Willem continues to serve dutifully as Rhaegar's Justicar. With the wedding and coronation of King Daemon III, he accompanied Lord Bittersteel to the capital to pay his respects to the King and perhaps find a few new brothels to drown his sorrows in. Timeline * 240 AC - Willem is born to Ser Oswin Whent and Lady Bethany Lychester. * 248 AC - Willem is sent to Harrenhal as page to Lord Baelor Bittersteel, for he is a troublesome and unstable child. He quickly befriends Baelor's bastard son, Rhaegar Rivers. * 249 AC - His younger brother, Ormund, is born. The child does not live out the year, and sends Bethany into isolation for the rest of her life. * 258 AC - His bastard, a boy named Edmure, is born to a serving girl at Harrenhal. The girl and child are dismissed but Willem makes efforts to remain in touch. * 258 AC - Willem is knighted by Lord Baelor. He then swears his sword to Rhaegar, vowing that the bastard is more his kin than any whom share his blood. * 264 AC - Willem meets Elinor Flowers at the Tumbleton Tourney. The pair are soon deeply in love, and marry before the year ends. * 265 AC - Follows Rhaegar in swearing to House Osgrey. As Rhaegar and his lover Roslin Osgrey welcome a daughter, so do Willem and Elinor have a daughter of their own. They name the girl Serra. * 269 AC - With the talk of war looming on the horizon, Willem and Rhaegar return to Harrenhal to prepare for the oncoming storm. * 270 AC - Word arrives at Harrenhal that Elinor has passed away from a wasting sickness. Willem becomes distraught and inconsolable, it is only the outbreak of war that sees him return to his twisted version of reality. * 270 AC - As Rhaegar's sworn sword, he follows the bastard doggedly throughout Durran's Defiance. During the war Willem earns the moniker of The Bloody Bat. He takes part in the Betrayal at Harrenhal, siding with his close friend Rhaegar, nearly losing an eye and more to Ser Harlan Arryn. * 271 AC - He follows his newly-made Lord Paramount to the Vale, making no new friends along the way. * 272 AC - Upon return to Harrenhal, Rhaegar appoints Willem his Justicar and gives him charge of the castle's dungeons. * 280 AC - Willem travels to King's Landing in Lord Bittersteel's company, swearing fealty to King Daemon III and fighting in the melee. Family Tree See here. Household NPCs * '''Ser Oswin Whent - Gift: Bureaucrat - Willem's father, and the current Knight of Whent Keep. He is old and decrepit, leaving much of the ruling to his stewards, whilst his mind and body rot away. * Oswell Whent - Gift: Bureaucrat - Willem's older brother, and heir to his father's lands. He takes after his old man in many ways, straining the relationship between the two brothers. * Serra Whent - Gift: Cunning - Willem's daughter, and the only family he truly cares for. Along with Rhaegar Bittersteel, she is one of the few that can truly soothe the addled knight's mind. * Edmure Rivers - Gift: Authoritative - Willem's bastard son and second at Harrenhal, a man of much sounder mind than the Bloody Bat and often entrusted with acting on his behalf. Category:Riverlander Category:House Whent Category:House Bittersteel